


Love Is a Battlefield

by Nevcolleil



Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: Declarations Of Love, M/M, Original Character(s), POV Outsider, Silly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-13
Updated: 2018-06-13
Packaged: 2019-05-21 19:43:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,204
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14921672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nevcolleil/pseuds/Nevcolleil
Summary: "...but I'm just saying... I don't like him," says Agent Dalton.It's like he's picking up an argument that was interrupted sometime earlier, as though no time has passed at all. And yet Macgyver responds to it as if it, and its timing, make perfect sense."I know, Jack, " he says. "You've been 'just saying' for weeks now. I think I've gotten the message."





	Love Is a Battlefield

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for an anonymous prompt on Tumblr (which I'm still taking, by the way!)
> 
> The prompt was: how *else* might Jack freaking out over Mac getting a boyfriend go. 
> 
> Somehow this is what came to me.

It starts almost as soon as they start - they're quiet for, maybe, a half an hour into their advance into the target region and then they begin-

Well. They begin to _bitch_ at one another, the captain really doesn't know what else to call it.

"...but I'm just saying... I don't like him," says Agent Dalton. 

It's like he's picking up an argument that was interrupted sometime earlier, as though no time has passed at all. As far as the captain has seen, he and Specialist Macgyver haven't stepped aside to confer in private at any point since joining his unit. They were simply quiet - and then they were not. Nothing obviously promoted the remark.

And yet Macgyver responds to it as if it, and its timing, make perfect sense.

"I know, Jack, " he says. "You've been 'just saying' for weeks now. I think I've gotten the message."

"Oh! Oh, you've gotten the message... I see. Alright, hoss... but have you though? Because I think, that if you _had_ gotten the message, then maybe by now you would have-"

"What, Jack? I would have _what_? Broken up with _my_ boyfriend because _you_ don't like him?!"

"Yes! Yes, you see... _Now_ you've got it!"

The captain 's never seen anything like it.

He isn't entirely sure what to _do_ about it. It isn't bothering anyone. Their guests are here at the head of the unit, with him, Grieger, Jefferson, and Daeton. They're speaking quietly enough that no one else behind them should be able to hear them, and they haven't reached the point where silence is necessary to avoid alerting their target.

Grieger and Jefferson, at least, seem to find it amusing. Daeton's got a look on his face that reminds the captain a little of a great aunt of his who used to get her feathers all ruffled whenever he and his brother would get caught cussing on Sunday. That amuses _him_ quite a bit.

"Oh, my god, you are ridiculous..." Macgyver all but whines, as Dalton asks, "Why are we even still having this conversation?" at basically the same time.

"You can take care of it right now," Dalton says, "Call him up - right now - and tell him to fuck off. Here, you can use my sat phone, then we'll be all good."

"We will not ' _be all good_ ', Jack, " Macgyver snaps at his partner.

"And why not?"

"Because _I_ like him! And I'm not breaking up with him just because you're mad that I missed one stupid Die Hard movie marathon night to spend time with him."

Dalton certainly does a good imitation of old Auntie Margaret, when he gasps and says, "Stupid marathon... _Stupid_?"

The captain catches Grieger and Jefferson both biting their lips like they're trying not to laugh, but Macgyver looks like he regrets his whole life.

"Jack-"

"You _love_ our movie marathon nights," Dalton hisses.

"I _do_ , Jack," Macgyver backtracks, and he sounds neutral enough, but damned if the captain can't see - from where he's standing just in front of and to the side of the specialist , who's walking in front of Agent Dalton - that the kid actually means it. "But-"

However strange Dalton's and Macgyver's behavior may be, no one can claim it's unprofessional. They gauge the moment the've reached proximity of the target before the captain can even remark on it.

"This is _his_ influence," Dalton grumbles hotly at Macgyver, but in the same voice, he says, "And we're nearing approach. Comms on, Mac." Macgyver was already reaching for his ear the second Dalton changed the subject. 

The captain's switched his comm on too, and he reminds his men of their mission parameters, their protocols, with one eye on how smoothly Dalton switches his and his specialist's positions - and how Macgyver instantly follows the agent's wordless command, regardless of the squabbling they were in the middle of only a moment before.

Their positions don't escape the captain's notice, either. Since joining his unit, the two Phoenix agents have behaved as equals, despite their differing titles - and that dynamic doesn't shift even as they near potential combat, nevermind the fact that Macgyver isn't carrying a gun. Dalton's fallen into classic 'shield and protect' formation in front of his partner - blocking Macgyver from the view of any possible threat, like he's a high-valued asset instead of a fellow operative. Meanwhile, whenever he's not tinkering with the odd assortment of things he pulled out of his bag half a clik back, Macgyver moves behind _his_ partner the way that the captain's own men are trained to do when shielding and protecting one another from behind.

In combat, they're -

They're something to see.

When Mathilda Weber first promised to send him a couple of her people to tromp with his unit through the Cambodian jungle and help storm a nigh impenetrable compound - if he let them then interrogate one of the unfriendlies inside - the captain didn't know what to think.

He'd heard of a Jack Dalton - and was sure that at least a part of what he'd heard was true.

And the first guy to step off of the jet that Mattie had sent looked just about how the captain had pictured a war-grizzled old spook like the Jack Dalton of legend to look. Dark hair... dark eyes. Built with the kind of lean, solid muscle that a man builds lifting bodies, not weights. His sniper 's eyes seemed to be perpetually measuring the distance between himself and everyone, everything - like somebody took a targeting scope and made it into a person.

The only thing about him, in fact, that didn't fit the war dog stereotype that Dalton was otherwise rocking was his big grin - and that the captain knew not to let mislead his perceptions. He's known a lot of serious soldiers throughout the years. Some, they've looked just as deadly as they strive to be - but the deadliest soldiers that the captain's ever met could smile in a man's face as they cut him down. So certain in their own capacity for combat - and rightly so - that to them, anything besides busting chops between battles, to lighten the mood and take the edge off, seems like just a lot of posturing.

Then Angus Macgyver stepped off the jet. Looking so young, he could stand in for any of the kids on the captain's son's high school football team, and no one would question it; so pretty - all golden blonde hair, big blue eyes and cheekbones - that he could have stepped right out of the pages of a magazine. He stepped off, and Dalton-

Without relaxing a muscle, something about Dalton just seemed... softer, of a sudden. 

The captain couldn't guess what either of them were going to do here in Cambodia besides, hopefully, stay out of the way and not get dead.

When the shooting starts, Dalton takes out four men before any of the captain's boys have raised their weapons.

And as soon as it becomes clear that they've lost the element of surprise, Dalton goes right back to his argument with his partner like the _twenty or so_ enemy combatants - to the man - swarming out of the compound like ants out of a kicked hill - are barely worth half his attention, much less all of it.

"He's not right for you, Mac! I thought you'd figure that out for yourself, soon enough. But now you're practically shackin' up with him! "

"I'm not-"

"Four nights this week!" Dalton shouts from wherever he and Macgyver have taken cover, to hear himself over the artillery going off all around them all - coming through loud and clear over the comms. "That's twice as many days as you've been home since we got back from Latvia-"

Dalton pauses and _stands up straight_ , with his position under fire and everything, to aim at something in the distance that the captain can't see, even with a clear sightline in that direction.

The gunfire coming from that location lightens considerably.

"Guys, uh... could you forget that you just heard the word 'Latvia' come out of this guy's mouth," Macgyver says over the comms himself, directly addressing the unit. The sound of his breathing is louder than normal, like he's hunched very low to the ground where he and Dalton are positioned. There are other sounds coming over the line from his comm unit as well - faint clinking and scraping sounds, so he must still be tinkering with. .. whatever the hell he'd been tinkering with before. Looked like a couple of AA batteries and a broken egg timer to the captain. " _Officially_ , neither Agent Dalton nor myself have _ever_ visited Latvia. "

He says it in a tone of voice like he's scolding a buddy for telling the cops that they don't have any weed on them... because they threw it out the window when he showed up.

"Yeah, right, never," Dalton says distractedly . "Anyway, since we got back-"

"Jesus Christ," the captain hears Daeton muttering.

Things get a little touch and go for a bit. The captain almost asks their chatty tag-alongs (can he call them that... now that they've managed somehow to push to the front of their assault?) to stow their drama for the duration, but oddly-

His men seem to thrive against the backdrop of their unsettlingly nonchalant banter.

It's like a white noise, the captain supposes. Dalton accusing Macgyver's romantic partner of not making enough effort to be a part of his life outside the bedroom... Macgyver claiming that Agent Dalton's tendency to date women once and never again is no healthier- (Neither of them seems concerned that the other has a... peculiar knowledge of, and interest in, his sex life.)

"Whatever. That's not even the _point_ , man!" Dalton says, and then, "Ready when you are, brother."

The captain has no idea what they're supposed to be ready for. " _Dalton_ ," he barks into the comms, covering Jefferson so he can inch further across the courtyard that they're slowly but steadily gaining ground on. "What are you-"

He sees what looks like Macgyver's arm rise up and toss something tiny in the direction of the corner of the courtyard where much of their opposition has formed a small cluster and-

"Better duck and cover, boys!" Dalton warns them.

There's a tiny _pop_ of a sound, right where the knot of men standing between them and the interior of the compound are grouped, which is really rather anticlimactic after Dalton's -

Then there's a boom like _thunder_ , and the knot of men go flying in every which direction, a great cloud of sand hiding what _exactly_ Macgyver 's managed to blow up - and how.

All that's important is that the shooting stops. _All_ of the shooting.

"What the hell are you all waiting for!" the captain yells to his men. "Move in!"

He doesn't really catch anything else that's said between Mathilda Weber's men as he, and they, and the men make their way through the compound, but he knows that it all comes to a head inside the stronghold at the center of the installation.

" -anyone you want! Anyone at all! " Dalton is saying when the captain comes across the pair again. "What makes _him_ so special, huh? The snooty degrees? You'd have twice as many if you didn't spend the same time he spent in a classroom out in the Sandbox serving your country! "

"He's not 'snooty', Jack. What _even_ is that word? And, no, it's not _specifically_ because he's finished his education, but I admire that he has... "

"He's got no sense of humor... doesn't like your friends - he's got no idea what you do for a living, and couldn't do a damned thing for you if he did!" Dalton really seems to be getting worked up. To the point that he's stopped, still, in the middle of a corridor and stopped Macgyver with him. 

"Uh... guys?" Halipen says, from his position further along the walk.

But neither Dalton nor Macgyver respond. Even in the dim backup lighting of the corridor, the captain can see that the little grin that's on Dalton's face is more a mockery of one than the real thing, frozen tight with unhappiness.

"Is it 'cause he's got abs, Mac? 'Cause I might not be as pretty, but even I got those."

Macgyver finally seems to be losing his cool as well. "I _know_ you've got-" he stutters, flustered. "Look, Jack no one's saying that you're not-" In fact, Macgyver even lets out a wordless little shout of frustration when he can't seem to decide on what to say to Dalton next or how. "God! You are so _infuriating_ sometimes!"

The captain would really like to get back to storming this stronghold full of bad guys, thank you very much. But even he has to wonder if either of the men have realized just how far off the rails their argument between partners and ' _friends_ ' has actually gone.

"It's like a goddamned soap opera," Grieger says from where he is near the captain, and several men mutter their agreement.

Everyone seems a lot more amenable to pausing this whole fucking operation just to see how the drama in their midsts is going to play out than is strictly professional at this point - or even rational. But then, when has anyone ever even seen a thing like this play out in the middle of a major firefight?

"I just want to hear you say it!" Dalton shouts himself. "Once and for all! Just _say_ it, Mac, so I can stop fucking _obsessing_ over it and move the hell on already! "

"Say _what_?"

"Are you in _love_ with him?" seems to echo in the corridor.

The captain swears you could hear a fucking pin drop. And a few moments ago, he also swears he saw Dalton shoot three men with one bullet, but just now the man's voice broke.

The silence only breaks with it at the sound of distant boots running, and Macgyver quietly saying, " _No_ , okay. No... I'm not. Is that what you wanted to hear?" 

"Jesus, Mac. Then why are you even _with_ him?" Dalton might very well have added 'and not me'? Everyone hears it.

"Because you never asked!" seems to burst out of Macgyver, as loud as the captain's ever heard him.

And that's when a bunch of Cambodian guerilla soldiers lay into all of them.

In the resulting struggle, the captain hears snippets of the aftermath of that conversation, broken up by Dalton's rifle and handgun fire, Macgyver asking Daeton if he can borrow his wristwatch (and then somehow removing an entire portion of the corridors they're stomping through with it, for fuck's sake). At one point, the captain sees Dalton leap at one wall, and bounce off of it to give himself the leverage to shoot an enemy combatant from over the heads of Jefferson and Haliper, and Macgyver steadying him on his descent like they do that kind of thing all the fucking time. Where the _hell_ did Mathilda Weber find a pair like this? 

The whole time they're saying, quietly through the comms, stuff like:

"Why didn't you ever tell me?"

"Didn't think you'd want to hear it. Then you start seeing some _guy_ that looks just fucking like me-"

And:

"He knows."

"What?"

"He knows that I- It's why he doesn't like hanging around when you're around, or when you and I hang out basically ever... He figured out how I felt about you, like, the moment you two met."

(The captain just happens to be standing near again, at this point - this time near enough to Dalton to see Dalton's face while Macgyver can't. Not that what passes over Dalton's face as he apparently misunderstands Macgyver's use of the past tense isn't obvious in the dejected sound of his voice.)

"Heh. Smart boy."

"Smarter than _you_ , obviously." (Macgyver sounds exasperated but fond, and a little helpless.)

"Well, _duh_."

And finally:

"Yeah, but you're not like that, Mac. I know that, and he should too! He should trust you enough to let you live your life. I mean, even if you were still interested... I wouldn't expect you to blow your shot at building something real with a guy who you've been with for months now. Who obviously makes you happy in some kind of way... Someone younger and- and who's got more going for him in the future than this kind of life-"

"Jack..."

"What I'm saying is, I shouldn't've pushed you the way I have! It don't matter why I lost my chance - I lost it. I should've just respected that. I _will_. I will respect that from now on, I promise you, Mac. Anything to keep from losing you completely, because, man, you gotta know now that I just couldn't live with tha-"

It's been a while since the captain's been home to kiss his wife - and he's never kissed another man - but a kiss sounds like a kiss with anyone, anytime.

And it's clear, from the sounds that come over the comms, that Macgyver shuts Dalton up with one hell of a kiss once he apparently just can't take any more of his partner's attempt at self-sacrifice.

As soon as the fighting's over, Dalton appears at the captain's side, looking as fierce as he had right in the middle of the tensest part of the battle.

He walks with purpose and holds out his hand. When the captain returns the gesture, Dalton drops two comms into it. 

"Captain, my colleague and I need to confer in private for a tic, then we will absolutely help your team with containment before we get to that interrogation, " Dalton says, in the type of tone that wouldn't brook an argument even from an officer even more superior than himself, the captain imagines.

He looks over Dalton's shoulder, where Macgyver stands, looking a little awkward and a lot flushed, lips shiny and swollen. It's only now that the captain sees it half glazed that he realizes how unnaturally sharp the kid's gaze usually is. That boy could kill him and all his men with a wristwatch or an egg timer, but now Macgyver's just standing there, looking part apologetic, part anxious, and staring at Agent Dalton like the older man hangs the fucking moon.

"Take your time, son," the captain feels almost obligated to say.

And there's that wild, wide grin of Dalton's once more. The little shit even winks at him. "I plan to, sir," he says quiet enough that only the captain can hear him.

He's a goddamned crazy man. They both are.

Dalton strides back to Macgyver with a pace like the battle is still on, and just grabs the kid by the face, kissing the way he fights. He leads the specialist this way, off into a side corridor that the unit's already cleared and moved past, and - walking backwards - Macgyver lets him, eyes closed, not flinching at the cheers, hoots and hollers that ring out from the captain's men as they see.

This was a daunting mission, and the captain doesn't think he's ever led one that ended with his men in such high spirits.

He needs to coordinate with Mathilda Weber more often.

**Author's Note:**

> The captain only catches a part of the interrogation that Weber's men conduct later. Part of their agreement was that he wouldn't record, document, or let his men sit in on this part of the mission, but nothing was said about him personally listening in from the next room.
> 
> Dalton and Macgyver are just as strangely, scarily good at this as they were at cutting through jungle like they're havings beers at the pub, or mowing through armed combatants like this is how they spend their Thursday afternoons for fun. Looking back, the captain isn't entirely sure that Macgyver had even put together that first bomb with the intention of having to use it. He'd just been finding something to do with his hands. The captain's gonna be thinking about that for a long time from now, he knows.
> 
> The first half hour of the interrogation is just Dalton and Macgyver having a conversation about how they _could_ get their interrogee to talk. If they had to.
> 
> "How- Oh, I know... How about that number that Mexican cartel pulled on you that time? That looked pretty effective til you started knocking everybody out."
> 
> "Nitrogen torture. Yeah. I don't think this place has a walk-in freezer, but if that old jeep we saw outside still has freon in it, and I can find the materials to make a stomach pump, we could try that. Without an accurate gauge to wire the pump to, though, I'm afraid I'd probably end up popping one of his lungs."
> 
> There's absolutely no sign that these two were having some kind of sex in an abandoned corridor half an hour earlier. And likely will be again as soon as they finish with this poor guy.
> 
> "Oh. Yeah. That'd suck. How about that time in Kahzakistan, when-"
> 
> "We're just supposed to scare him, Jack"
> 
> "Dude, Kahzakistan was _scary_."
> 
> "Kahzakistan was _messy_. And where are we supposed to get a gibbon and a bonesaw out here in the middle of the Cambodian jungle?"
> 
> "I don't know, but we ought to try. That gibbon was funny! Man, I didn't know the little monkeys can be that strong!"
> 
> The interrogation wraps up pretty quick.


End file.
